Who here grew up poor but made it?

[mikegg]

Let's hear it. Your own definition of poor and rich.

I certainly did. Not saying that I made it yet but I'm at least not at poverty level.

My story copied over from another thread:

Parents didn't have money for my college so I had to borrow. I grew up extremely poor. Think having to live in a single room with my parents, brother, and sister for most of my life poor. Parents in one bed. Older brother at top of bunk bed. Sister and I at bottom of bunk bed. You know how when you were a kid, you'd have friends over to hang out? I never had friends over because I was too embarrassed. I've never went on a vacation. Parents both worked below minimum wage for 6+ days/week. My dad had a broken knee but never had surgery. He limped while he walked and was always in pain. In my 3rd - 8th grade years, I didn't have that much to eat. I wasn't starving but definitely did not have a refrigerator full of food. Never had new clothes until high school when I started working. All my clothes were passed down from my older brother. In college, it seemed like I was the only one not to have a car. Bus all the way baby!

I am lucky though. I worked at various internships throughout my college career and instead of partying, I built websites in my spare time. Got offered a job 3 months before I graduated and started working full-time before my classes were even over.

I'm now 4 months removed from my undergrad degree and I'm already getting interview requests for manager level jobs with 100k salaries. Right now I make 65k/year. I plan on staying here for 1 year then move on to a 100k job. In my current job, I'm consulting for big company executives and directors. I'm 23 years old.

Brother and sister also graduated from top universities and are both working in stable jobs. *knock on wood* My dad retired and finally had surgery to fix his knee. My mom is set to retire soon too.

We're set to buy our first house and have a combined 290k saved up.

I still don't have a vacation under my belt. Neither have my parents.

 

[Colt45]

high five?

go on vacation sometime... good for mental health.

 

[brainhulk]

 

[RelaxTheMind]

i guess this all depends on your definition of "poor" and "made it".

 

[Cpus]

My dad grew up in extremely poor family. Got a job at DOD, making 250k a year same with my mom (a little less) all her brothers and sisters (7) are extremely rich except for 1.

 

[Jumpem]

My wife and I both grew up extremely poor. We usually didn't have much food to eat or any of the toys other kids had. I wore my older cousin's second hand clothes.

I went to college, and was making more than my parents with my first job out of college. We now have two kids, a small house, a new car, 401k, and comfortable emergency savings.

 

[brianmanahan]

paging dr alkemyst





More calling out of alky when he's not even participating in this thread

This needs to stop.
esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[brianmanahan]

also LOL at poorly veiled bragthread

 

[IronWing]

I was born a poor black child...

 

[brianmanahan]

I was born a poor black child...

love that movie!

 

[purbeast0]

i have to say, having $290k saved up and never taken a vacation is fucking retarded.

 

[gorcorps]

I have a question for the OP, how much did you have to borrow? I ask because I wouldn't consider my parents "poor" but they were definitely on the low end of the middle class. However, they made so little money that through FAFSA I was able to get a large chunk of my undergrad education funded and the rest was made up with scholarships. You sound like your parents made just as little so I'm curious why you had to borrow much at all... if any?

Also, I wouldn't move companies so quickly. 2 years is pretty much the minimum before the other companies looking at your resume questioning your loyalty.

 

[wirednuts]

im on the road to making it. struggled all my life. only at 35k/yr right now but i have a great job and thats just probationary starting pay. and the best part? stress levels are near zero. so much so that i dont even feel anxious about losing my old house to foreclosure. $50k down the drain and i have a smile on my face. because i know my life is going up, not down anymore.

 

[jlee]

also LOL at poorly veiled bragthread

Yep.

I grew up below whatever the government considers "poverty level." I'm fine.

 

[tcsenter]

Not poor, but lots of generics in the pantry some times. And back then, the generics were basically produced from shit the premium brands used to reject. I'll never forget the generic peanut butter - always fucking stale. I was the youngest of four so my older siblings had it a little worse. My parents did make OK money most years but they were savers so they lived well below their means. Both my parents grew-up poor, huge families, especially my mom. Her family were sharecroppers/tenant farmers in post-depression Tennessee until she was about 12, when they moved north for the factory work. She was especially frugal, at times almost obsessively, because she was always worried about being poor again. And no, I guess I didn't make it due to disabling health condition, but before my health problems I had a decent career. So I guess my parents could answer the OP title in the affirmative.

 

[lxskllr]

im on the road to making it. struggled all my life. only at 35k/yr right now but i have a great job and thats just probationary starting pay. and the best part? stress levels are near zero. so much so that i dont even feel anxious about losing my old house to foreclosure. $50k down the drain and i have a smile on my face. because i know my life is going up, not down anymore.

That is the best part. Fuck money. If you can be comfortable, with little stress, it's worth more than all the money in the world.

 

[olds]

I grew up poor.
I remember as a kid playing with the neighbor kids and being embarrassed because our house needed paint. Dad said we had to scrimp on some things to have others.
It didn't really hit me till we were flying back in our private Lear jet to our vacation home in Kennebunkport that my dad was right. That vacation house in Italy could go another year without paint and I needed to grow the hell up.

 

[amdhunter]

Seriously not trolling - I thought I was doing great until Obama took office, then I hit a wall on salary raises or even a title change.

I don't expect things to get better no matter who wins, but yeah, with inflation and other changes to the economy, I am doing much worse than I was growing up, even though money-wise, I probably make more than my combined household made back then.

 

[wirednuts]

That is the best part. Fuck money. If you can be comfortable, with little stress, it's worth more than all the money in the world.

yes times a million! stress is such a demoralizing disease. i wont ever go back to it. i have learned.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Seriously not trolling - I thought I was doing great until Obama took office, then I hit a wall on salary raises or even a title change.

Obama? Coincidence. What the Illuminati don't want you to know is that this whole mess is actually a result of Slovakia joining the Euro zone.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Grew up in Poland during communism. We weren't poor by Poland's standards but certainly poor by American standards.

Not I'm middle class and consider myself rich (by my standards).

I never forget where I came from and what the world is around me.

Most POOR American's live by better standards than most of middle class around the world.

 

[zerocool84]

Lots of people grow up poor and end up doing well for themselves. They don't feel the need to post a thread about it.

 

[brianmanahan]

and the best part? stress levels are near zero.

i would give up quite a bit of money to have no stress. right now my stress levels are at an all time high and getting higher.

 

[brianmanahan]

That vacation house in Italy could go another year without paint and I needed to grow the h**l up.

you only had one vacation house in italy??

 

[SagaLore]

me

although with the amount of debt I have due to divorce and housing crash, I feel poor again